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Ok. This one took a whil to write. I felt that it was an important right of passage.

"Come on Charley! It'll be fun!"

I bit my lip as I looked at my best friend Zander, who was standing in front of his car. He had a pleading expression, and he'd had it all day. Why? Because all day, he had been begging me to come to a stupid party with him.

I don't like parties. I've never been to one, but I can't imagine it'd be something that I'd like. I hate most kids at my school. I can't imagine that I would like them any better when they're drunk, high and making out or having sex. That is more than they normally do.

"Why would I want to go? Give me one good reason." I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

Zander smirks. "Because I'm going."

"Like that's gonna help." I snort. He actually looks hurt. "Kidding!" I say, because I feel bad. "Seriously though, why should I go, when I could go home and draw or play guitar and write songs? Or we could do something else, like watch bad horror movies or go to the comic store. Why do we have to go to this party?"

"Because I just want to go! Come on Charley! It'll be the perfect fuck you!" Zander grins, because he knows he got me with that last part.

I groan. "Fine, but we aren't staying long, ok?"

"Sure. Yeah." Zander says, still smiling. He probably didn't hear what I said.

I climb into the passenger seat, and smack him on the side of the head. His hair gets ruffled, sticking up all over. It's black, with a few purple strips in it. He always says I'm lucky because my hair is naturally black. I agree.

"What was that for?" He says, rubbing his head.

"Because I just know that I'm gonna regret this."

"Nothing's gonna happen Charley. Well stay for an hour or two-" I shoot him a dark look. "An hour," he amends. "And then we'll go do what you want to do. It'll be fine."

I blow a bunch of air out of my mouth in a huge gust. "You better be right."

Fifteen minutes later, we're pulling up to some huge mansionish place somewhere in L.A. I'm not really sure where; I can't drive yet, so I never pay attention to street names and stuff like that. I can hear the heavy beat coming from the house, and I can feel it shaking the ground. I open the door, slamming it with more force than necessary. I immediately wish I hadn't gotten out.

I give Zander a dirty look. "I am not going in there."

"Why not?" He asks me.

"Because any party playing Lady Gaga at that volume is not one I could see myself enjoying."

Zander groans, grabs my wrist and pulls me behind him. I jerk back and try to run back towards the car, but he catches me. He looks me right in the eye, and I'm distracted. I've never noticed how pretty his eyes are before.

"One hour." He says, holding up a finger. "Just one."

And I must still be distracted by his eyes because I hear myself say, "Ok."

We go inside, and the smell of sweat and alcohol is strong. I see tons of kids, most of whom I hate with a passion, dancing in a huge room. I don't know how their ears aren't bleeding from the terrible music, but then again, they seem to be enjoying it. Just another reason that we don't get along.

Zander looks at my face, which I'm sure has a more than slightly displeased expression and groans. "Just try and enjoy yourself." He says. "Try for me."

And this time, I notice how pretty his pale skin is. And the way that his nose isn't exactly straight. It looks good that way.

"Here," Zander says. He walks over to a cooler and pulls out a can, placing it forcefully in my hand.

"I don't drink." I say.

"I know, it's Pepsi." He smiles at me.

"Oh. In that case..." I take it and crack it open. The familiar taste makes me slightly more comfortable with my otherwise awkward surroundings.

Zander has his hands in his pockets and is looking around the room. He must see somebody that he wants to talk to because he says, "I'll be back in a little bit." And walks away, towards the dance floor that I have no desire to go anywhere near. I feel a little hurt, because he dragged me to this party and now I'm standing her alone. I back up carefully until I find a wall that I can lean against. People keep walking around me, acting like I'm not there, which is a little bit like how it normally is.

"What are you doing here?" I recognize Jess Chamberlain, one of the preppy girls that likes to try and give me shit.

"I came with Zander." I say stoically, turning my can in my hand and taking a sip so she can see it's just a Pepsi.

She puts her hands on her hips. "Zander Christian?"

"Yep." Another sip of Pepsi.

"The guy who's making out with Ashley Vanderbuilt?"

I almost spit my Pepsi out all over her. Instead, I force myself to swallow as I look across the room. Sure enough, my best friend is in the middle of a very passionate kiss with one of the people I like the least. I feel all the muscles in my body tense as I see him wrap his arms around her and pull her close to him. I rip my eyes away and take another sip of Pepsi.

"I guess so." I finally answer her.

"Oh." She says, dissapointed by the lack of visable reaction from me. She walks away after a moment, high heels clicking.

I bite my lip hard until I taste blood. I wipe it away hastily with the heel the knuckle of my thumb, along with a tear that has somehow managed to escape from my eye. Then I throw my can against the wall as hard as I can and stomp in the opposite direction of the dance floor.

I'm gonna get myself a beer.


Mikey's POV

I flipped another page of my comic. This was boring. But Alicia was out with her girl friends, and I was left alone. With the exception of Professor Buckley.

I'd already read this comic about three times. I sigh and tossed it to the floor.

Gee was with Bob car hunting. Frankie was with Jamia. Ray was in San Francisco at a gamer convention.

I couldn't think of anything to do. I'd made about four runs to Starbucks today.

I look at the clock, and realize somehow it's mid-night. I could go to sleep.

God, that was such an old person thing.

This is a major "waiting for the Kool Aid man to burst through my wall moment".

When my phone rings, I jump up to answer it, excited to talk to just about anybody.

"Hello?" I say, ready to hit myself for how eager I sound.

"Mikey?" A fuzzy voice comes over the phone.

"Yeah."

"It's..Ch..Char..Charley." The voice stutters.

"Charley?" I ask. Her voice doesn't sound normal. "Are you ok?"

"I don't know." Her words are kind of slurred together. I hear loud noise in the background, but it's all jumbled together and I can't tell what it is.

"Where are you?" I ask.

"A party." Charley? At a party? That's strange. I'm quiet for a moment.

"Mikey...can you..." her voice breaks off into unnatural giggles. "Can you come..and get me?"

"Yeah. Sure. Where are you?"

"Uh.....hold on." All I can hear is the background, and it's a full minute before Charley comes back. "296 Oakville Road." She says. "I'll see you soon."

"Wait Charley!" I say, but it's too late. She already hung up.

"Damn it." I swear. I pull up Mapquest on my phone and grab my keys, putting in the address she gave me as I walk. I'm worried. She sounded drunk. But Charley isn't that type of kid. And after hearing stories about Gerard, she's always stayed away from alcohol and drugs.

I get into my car and start to drive, following the crap Mapquest directions. As it turns out, the address she gave me was off, but it's not that hard to find where she wanted me to go. It's a big house, and the music can be heard from far away.

After a moment of indecision, I get out of the car and decide to go in and find her. There's a ton of kids,and a couple of them give me weird looks as I walk through the door, but no one looks too long. And none of them recognize me, which is good. I look around for Charley, and I'm kind of freaked when I see her. Because she's on the floor.

I run over to her, and pick her up . She giggles.

"Hi Mikey! When did you get here?"

"Just now. Come on. Can you stand up?

"Uhuh..."She laughs, but her legs buckle and I have to catch her again. I drag her to my car, with difficulty I might add. Did I mention that I have come to the conclusion she's drunk off her ass?

I hop into the car on the other side. Her head is lolling back and her eyes are unfocused.

"How much did you drink?" I'm trying to decide if I'm supposed to be angry. I've just picked up my fifteen year old neice from a party, and she's really drunk. As an uncle, am I supposed to be angry?

"I don't know..." she sighs.

I breathe out, and remember Gerard. He wouldn't be angry, I don't think. She just did the same thing he'd done one hundred times over. Besides, every kid does this once or twice. I sigh and turn on the car, wondering if I should call Gerard.

I decide to leave that for later, turning on the car and pulling out of the driveway. I almost hit a few cars; they're parked like crap.

We get onto the main road, and I'm kind of zoned out, remembering how awful it was when Gerard was an alcoholic, and wondering what made Charley drink. I'm drawn out of my thoughts by Charley's moan of, "Mikey, I don't feel good." She sounds like a little kid.

I look over at her and see how she's swallowing, and how her skin's gone green all of the sudden. "Shit." I swear, and I pull the car over to the side of the road. I don't even have time to get Charley out of the car, so I push open her door and force her to lean down over the curb. She hiccups, and pukes all over the ground. I try to pull most of her hair out of her face. Then I wait, occasionally telling her that she's ok. I'm not sure why, but it just seems like the right thing to do.

We sit there like that for nearly ten minutes, because I want to make sure she's gotten it all up before we start driving again. Finally, when she goes without puking for five minutes, I pull her back up into her seat and shut her door. Then I start the car again, and drive the rest of the way home.

I have to carry her bridal style into my house, because I can't get her to walk at all. I drop her into my bed, breathing hard. She's out cold, and by the looks of it, it's gonna be that way for a while.

I sigh, walking over to my couch. Now would be a good time to call Gerard. I take a deep breath, dial his number, and cross my fingers.

It rings twice before he picks up. "Hey Mikey! What's up?"

"I just picked up Charley from a party."

"And..." he sounds apprehensive.

"She got real drunk Gee."

He sighs. "I guess I knew it was gonna happen sometime."

"So you aren't mad at her?"

"Well...a little. But I'd be a hypocrite if I was right?"

"Yeah..I guess."

"Ok. Where is she now?"

I look at her. "Passed out cold in my bed."

Gerard sighs. "Ok. I'll come get her. Thanks Mikey."

"Welcome Gee." I sigh and hang up. I can't help but be proud of myself. I think I did a good job fulfilling my duties as an uncle.

Score 1 for Mikey...



Hope you liked it. Please rate and review. Especially rate. I've always wanted to have a green story!!